Some music I made.

[Edwardo Piet]

There are five tracks that I made on my myspace here: http://www.myspace.com/zealotsoulmusic

2 are from 2006 and they sound pretty different from the other 3 made in late 2008.

All comments welcome. Honest ones encouraged, dishonest ones discouraged (i.e, if you think any of them or all of them are shit; say so).

Constructive criticism encouraged most of all.

EvF

[Rob]

Im going to be brutally honest, you might not like this.

Its not all bad. My favourite was "Sound Music" as it was the calmest. The beginning and ending of most of the tunes are quite passable. Its the middle I find objectionable.

Imagine going to a concert and two bands are playing at the same time. Individually the songs they're playing might be very good. However due to contrasting sounds and chaotic out of sync rhythm the result is confusing and doesn't sound too good.
That's the feeling I get from listening to those.
They might sound better if you scaled back the amount of sounds playing at once (and limited your use of the high pitched screechy instrument).

Also, they're a bit too repetitive. It felt like sonic the hedgehog fancied a night out and decided to venture to the techno remix zone. If the above problems are fixed then this could potentially make a good game sound track.

That's that. Hope I haven't offended too much. However, I have heard worse and practice is the key to getting better

[Edwardo Piet]

Thanks for your input.

Its nice to hear someone say what they think and not just ignore my music or say its good for the sake of it.

I am totally new to making music so this is the reaction I would actually expect so I don't like it when people just say its good anyway or ignore my music.

I like the input and suggestions, thanks. I'll do what I can to improve - I'm a n00b to music so it may take some time!

It's not as if I've been making music on my own for 30 years and then told its crap. I'm new, I don't expect to be any good

Thanks for your honestly. And the more opinions the better.

EvF

[allan175]

Listening now...

So far, Sound Music & Vis both have some very nice bits *but* they also have some very repetitive bits, some parts go on for a bit too long (I know a lot of this type of music does get a bit repetitive but certain sections are just a bit too much so).

Cherry, I like the underlying bass but the rythm track is a bit too random (although still musical). Also drifts into very repetitive in the middle.

I'm afraid Retro Jam sounded like it could have been made with a random note generator!

Snapped Bob sounds quite randomly generated *and* repetitive!

There are good bits in there, probably just a matter of working on them or doing some new tracks with your new experience.

I'm not at all musical myself so they are probably better than I could have done!

[Edwardo Piet]

You see the REASON why I want criticism is not only because I want to improve - but because no matter how negative the comments are they cannot possibly offend me. Personal attacks are another thing. But criticism about my music cannot remotely offend me...

Why?

Because I make my music entirely because I enjoy it. Any future improvement or success would just be a by-product

Thanks for your input guys.

I'll try and keep the music more spaced and less repetitive. But not too much because I don't like my music TOO spacey and I like my music quite repetitive

I like it when it goes spacey and builds up and then goes spacey again, etc. And I try and fit some breakbeats and breakdowns in when I think appropriate.

Once again: Thanks for your input guys

EvF

[athoughtfulman]

You've done well. For your first time, that's way better than almost anything I've heard of someone's first time.

The songs are a beginning but I think you could do a lot more with them. With music, I think the journey is important. At least with dynamics, try and build your songs up more before you take them down. So build up the energy a lot and when you take something away, put something in to signify it.

I really like Sound Music and Vis, and I reckon you could do heaps with them.

Are you a musician at all? Or just started composing something on your computer?

[Edwardo Piet]

I just compose with computer....

I used to have a keyboard that I used quantize with and I could play live with it with loops....

Well I have been doing music for a few years OFF and ON....BUT....it was not with my own sounds at all - I just played around with royalty-free sample loops and learnt to construct songs with them.

I haven't been making my own songs with my own sounds for very long.

And yes...I have been trying to build songs up more.... the trick is to do that without getting crowded...but I like to try and get as crowded as possible without being TOO crowded. Or as spaced out as possible without being TOO spaced out. So I can learn and test my limits with the structuring.

Sometimes I don't structure a song to sound its best...but simply to learn more. Because if I didn't try stuff I'd be stuck in a rut. I'd find a comfort-zone and wouldn't move on.

EvF

[athoughtfulman]

Of course! You have to try stuff. That's why I love music. There is all these rules about times and keys and so on, but then you can still write a good song and break all of them.

I find a really good way to learn different techniques like building a song up is to listen to a song similar to what you're trying to achieve. It'll give you ideas about what you could use to build it up. But yeah, the trick it definitely learning how to do it without crowding it up

With your attitude, I expect a killer song soon

[Edwardo Piet]

I used to try and copy the exact bar lengths and amounts of songs....and amount of layers....

So my song would be structurated exactly the same but everything else would be completely different.

Different BPM, different tunes, different rhythms, different keys, different musical scale...

Just same layers and bars... so I could get used to and 'get the feel' of structuring songs...

I haven't done that in ages (just in order to practice), for years, so I forgot how to structure songs so much.

EvF